The use of learning management platforms in school context - a national study

This report results from a national study carried out under the Project “Educational application of learning management platforms”, supported and funded by the Computers, Networks, and Internet in Schools department of the Portuguese Ministry of Education- General Directorate for Innovation and Educational Development. This report has been developed by the ICT Competence Centre of the Faculty of Sciences- University of Lisbon, during the school year 2007/2008

When technology meets educational sciences:Combining virtual reality and microteaching to train pre-service teachers’ kindergarten classroom management strategies

In our study, we asked 19 pre-service teachers (PSTs) about their experiences with and perceptions of a microteaching-supported virtual reality (VR) kindergarten classroom where they practiced and experimented with different classroom management strategies (CMS). We analyzed quantitative and qualitative responses to gain insight into the perceived usefulness of this learning environment for CMS development and transfer to internship practices. The quantitative results show that practicing in the VR classroom supported mastery of CMS and helped PSTs to manage behaviors at their internships. The qualitative data suggest that the microteaching approach can support transfer of CMS practiced in the VR-kindergarten classroom to in-situ classroom management situations, possibly because of the opportunity to collaboratively engage in reflexive practices. Moreover, PSTs raised valuable suggestions to further improve the microteaching structure to strengthen the effect of peer feedback. The results of this study underline the importance of purposefully grounding VR applications in proven instructional theories

An Immersive Telepresence System using RGB-D Sensors and Head Mounted Display

We present a tele-immersive system that enables people to interact with each other in a virtual world using body gestures in addition to verbal communication. Beyond the obvious applications, including general online conversations and gaming, we hypothesize that our proposed system would be particularly beneficial to education by offering rich visual contents and interactivity. One distinct feature is the integration of egocentric pose recognition that allows participants to use their gestures to demonstrate and manipulate virtual objects simultaneously. This functionality enables the instructor to ef- fectively and efficiently explain and illustrate complex concepts or sophisticated problems in an intuitive manner. The highly interactive and flexible environment can capture and sustain more student attention than the traditional classroom setting and, thus, delivers a compelling experience to the students. Our main focus here is to investigate possible solutions for the system design and implementation and devise strategies for fast, efficient computation suitable for visual data processing and network transmission. We describe the technique and experiments in details and provide quantitative performance results, demonstrating our system can be run comfortably and reliably for different application scenarios. Our preliminary results are promising and demonstrate the potential for more compelling directions in cyberlearning.Comment: IEEE International Symposium on Multimedia 201

Using Augmented Reality in early art education: a case study in Hong Kong kindergarten

Innovation in pedagogy by technology integration in kindergarten classroom has always been a challenge for most teachers. This design-based research aimed to explore the feasibility of using Augmented Reality (AR) technology in early art education with a focus on the gains and pains of this innovation. A case study was conducted in a typical kindergarten in Hong Kong, with a class of four- to five-year-old children (N=30) and their class teacher, ICT teacher as well as two parent volunteers. A series of art education activities using AR was designed and implemented in the class. Effectiveness of the activities was evaluated through a triangulation of semi-structured interviews with teachers, principal and parents, and surveys administered to children. The results indicated that (1) all the children could design, control and interact with the animated objects generated by the AR application; (2) all the stakeholders interviewed were supportive of this pedagogical innovation and (3) the principal, teachers and parents were concerned about the side effects of using AR in early childhood education. Possible improvements and implications to AR-based art education were also addressed.postprin

Reconfiguring Interactivity, Agency and Pleasure in the Education and Computer Games Debate – using Žižek’s concept of interpassivity to analyse educational play

Digital or computer games have recently attracted the interest of education researchers and policy-makers for two main reasons: their interactivity, which is said to allow greater agency, and their inherent pleasures, which is linked to increased motivation to learn. However, the relationship between pleasure, agency and motivation in educational technologies is under-theorised. This paper aims to situate these concepts within a framework that might identify more precisely how games can be considered to be educational. The framework is based on Zizek’s theory of subjectivity in cyberspace, and in particular his notion of interpassivity, which is defined in relation to interactivity. The usefulness of this concept is explored firstly by examining three approaches to theorizing cyberspace and their respective manifestations in key texts on educational game play. Zizek’s analysis of cyberspace in terms of socio-symbolic relations is then outlined to suggest how games might be considered educational insofar as they provide opportunities to manipulate and experiment with the rules underpinning our sense of reality and identity. This resembles Brecht’s notion of the educational value of theatre. The conclusion emphasizes that the terms on which games are understood to be educational relates to the social interests which education is understood to serve

The Contribution of Nintendo Wii® in children’s motricity

The increasingly visible sedentarism in the children of our current society is a problem that has been worrying the Childhood Educators. Taking into account the advancement of technology and the fact that children in today's activity rooms are considered as Digital Natives, we intend to introduce the Nintendo Wii® into the motor activities developed by children in order to verify their contribution to children's motor skills. To this end, the objectives of this study focused on the promotion of digital resources in activities related to motor expression; the analysis of the effect of the practice of motor activities performed with Nintendo Wii® and the identification of changes in children's motor development, namely in the analyzed variables, balance, laterality, body notion and global praxia, resulting from practice in the environment virtual. The present investigation was developed in the Supervised Practice in Pre-School Education, in a group of children between the ages of 4 and 5 years. In this investigation the qualitative and quantitative paradigm was combined. A mixed qualitative approach was also developed, combining action research and exploratory case study, due to the uniqueness of the study. For the collection of data, several instruments and techniques were used: participant observation, field notes, audiovisual media, BPM, semistructured interview and questionnaire surveys. The implementation was developed in seven sessions, in which the children of the experimental group used the Nintendo Wii® and its accessories (Wii Remote and Balance Board). After the due analysis of all the collected data, we can conclude that the Nintendo Wii® contributes significantly in the children's motricity, that is, in the improvement of motor skills. It is noteworthy that the accomplishment of motor activities with the Nintendo Wii® generated in the children spontaneous collaborative spirit; healthy competition, because what mattered was the accomplishment of motor activities and not exactly the gain of points, and the punctuation emerged as a motivating element in terms of people, giving rise to greater feelings of selfesteem.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Current Trends in Game-Based Learning

A myriad of technological options can be used to support digital game-based learning. One popular technology in this context is the mobile device, considering its high penetration rate in our societies, even among young people. These can be combined with other technologies, such as Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR), to increase students’ motivation and engagement in learning processes.Due to this, there is an emergent need to know and promote good practices in the development and implementation of game-based learning approaches in educational settings. This was the motto for the proposal of the Education Sciences (ISSN: 2227-7102) Special Issue “Current Trends in Game-Based Learning”. This book is a reprint of this Special Issue, collecting a set of five papers that illustrate the contribution of innovative approaches to education, specifically the ones exploring the motivational factors associated with playing games and the technology that may support them

Evaluation of The Quality of E-Learning Platforms Used in Educating Kindergarten Children Distantly During the Coronavirus Pandemic

During the coronavirus pandemic, and for the first time, ministries of education in many countries have resorted to electronic education platforms for kindergarten children as a safe alternative to face-to-face education. This shift to distance education is still used partly in the education process, even after the end of the pandemic. The current study aimed to consider this unique experience by evaluating the quality of the Rawdaty platform, which is one of the e-learning platforms launched by the Saudi Ministry of Education during the coronavirus pandemic, to ensure the continuation of the educational process in kindergartens. The analytical descriptive approach was used, and a scale derived from the Saudi National E-Learning Center (NELC) standards was designed to achieve the studys objectives. The scale includes four main dimensions: Design, Interaction, Equity and accessibility, Measurement and Evaluation. The research sample consisted of (94) mothers and (67) kindergarten teachers. The results of the study were as follows: The quality standards of the Rawdaty platform were achieved to a high degree from the point of view of mothers, with an arithmetic mean of (55.93) and an average weight of (2.664). It also showed the high-quality standards of the kindergarten platform from the point of view of the teachers, with an arithmetic mean of (58.35) and an average weight of (2.78). The study recommended the possibility of adopting e-learning platforms to teach kindergarten children distantly during exceptional circumstances

Quality Distance Education for Early Childhood During the Corona Pandemic: The Perceptions of Female Teachers

The corona (Covid-19) pandemic caused the closure of kindergarten institutions and schools around the world which forced higher authorities to shift focus towards online distance education. The impact of the pandemic was so severe that it affected almost a quarter of the people lives, public health and above all the education sectors. The present study was designed according to the Servqual Model using sample perceptions of early childhood parameters in Saudi Arabia and Jordan utilizing online questionnaires to collect the responses from 157 teachers.  The quality of the online education services provided for primary school children due to Covid-19 suffered greatly as the teachers were not accustomed to the technology of distance learning. The present study recommends the need to explore the research of the high level for primary school children’s study tool where teachers and parents will be able to deal with online platforms effectively. During the present unavoidable crisis, the article presents an easier and equitable platform for every child in the family

Using Preschool to Close the Socioeconomic Math Achievement Gap

Socioeconomic status (SES) heavily influences students’ academic performance, creating an achievement gap in core subjects like reading and mathematics. This thesis will describe the socioeconomic achievement gap as it relates to mathematics specifically, discuss the problem’s causes, and propose how preschool programs should be implemented more prevalently as a solution to close the gap. Children with low socioeconomic statuses enter school with lower math proficiency due to their limited math exposure in their early years and the quality of their home learning environments. This thesis will propose an expansion of preschool programs as a solution to this problem to help mediate the proficiency in foundational math concepts of low-SES students prior to school entry